1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to the field of telecommunications, and in particular, to systems, methods, and software for collecting and correlating session quality information.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Delivering high quality services in modern packet based telecommunication networks is one of the more difficult challenges facing the telecommunication industry. In the past, services were provided over circuit switched networks. A typical service, such as a voice call, would be connected over a dedicated circuit, thereby allowing for a high level of service quality The distributed nature inherent to packet networks makes past quality of service levels difficult to attain.
One solution in the prior art for measuring and maintaining quality of service is the real-time control protocol (RTCP). RTCP is designed to allow for the monitoring and exchange of quality of service information between devices participating on a service session. For example, an originating phone can exchange RTCP packets with a destination phone during a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) phone call.
Unfortunately, such prior art solutions do not provide a graceful and dynamic way to deliver quality information to other network elements that do not handle bearer or signaling communications for a session. Furthermore, the distributed nature of packet networks makes it difficult to centrally collect and correlate the vast amounts of quality information that is generated during such sessions.